Between Friends - Winner of the National Jewish Book Award
Between Friends is eight interconnected stories, set in the fictitious Kibbutz Yekhat. We meet idealistic men and women who have chosen to build a life on a Kibbutz. These stories profile their lives of hardship and joy while trying to live with the demands of one of the greatest and most challenging dreams of the twentieth century. Because the difficulties lie with this particular dream is the amount of compromise and negotiation that are required to make it work. We will meet a devoted father who fails to challenge his daughter’s lover; an elderly gardener who carries on his shoulders the sorrows of the world; a woman writing perversely poignant letters to her husband’s mistress. These stories show us the complexities of ordinary human life bumping up against the idealism of life on a Kibbutz, and how even the best dreams demand human work and compromise to flourish.
Amos Oz draws on his deep connection to Israel, Kibbutz life and his own life on a Kibbutz to fashion stories that help us understand the amount of discipline, work and commitment needed to live in a shared group life. He writes with love as well as discipline - a very powerful way to tell stories that inspire, teach and build the posssibility of communal living - whether in a kibbutz or just in our neighborhoods.